April 25, 2005

Using a new electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell (MFC) that does not require oxygen, researchers at Penn State and Ion Power Inc. have developed the first process that enables bacteria to coax four times as much hydrogen directly out of biomass than can be generated typically by fermentation alone.

“This form of renewable energy production may help offset the substantial costs of wastewater treatment as well as provide a contribution… read more

April 25, 2005

Far from boosting productivity, the constant flow of emails, cellphone calls and instant messages received by modern workers can seriously reduce a person’s ability to focus on tasks, a study of office workers found.

April 21, 2005

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a “superlens” that can break the so-called diffraction limit of optics through negative refraction, allowing for imaging of 60-nanometer objects.

April 21, 2005

Google is converting the full text of millions of library books into searchable Web pages. How will libraries function in 2020 or 2050, once Google or its successors have finished digitizing the world’s printed knowledge?

April 21, 2005

Suspended animation has been deliberately induced in a species of mouse which does not naturally hibernate, using hydrogen sulphide.

If a similar response could be triggered in humans, there would be major healthcare benefits and the futuristic idea of putting astronauts into suspended animation on long-haul space flights could move a step closer to reality.

April 21, 2005

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Brookhaven National Laboratory have found that a class of nanostructured materials that are key components of computer memories and other important technologies undergo a previously unrecognized shift in the rate at which magnetization changes at low temperatures.

The results could point the way to marked improvements in the performance of microwave devices.

April 21, 2005

“I believe we are heading towards a singularity and we will see it in less than 10 years,” says Doug Lenat of Cycorp, which is putting an artificial brain called Cyc online for the world to interact with.

Opening Cyc up to the masses is expected to accelerate the rate at which it learns, giving it access to the combined knowledge of millions of people around the globe as… read more

April 20, 2005

A set of 11 genes — the “death from cancer signature” — associated with cell proliferation and renewal can identify people at higher risk for metastatic complications and more severe cancer illness, according to a study by a team from the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego.